James White, along with his wife, Ellen, was a key person in the development and growth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. While he is best known for his abilities as an organizer, publicist, writer and editor, preacher, and Bible student, he was also interested in music, due, in part, to the fact that his father was a teacher of vocal music.

White, the fifth of nine children was born in Palmyra, Maine. From his earliest years he had eyesight problems severe enough to keep him out of school until age nineteen. He enrolled in an academy in St. Albans and within twelve weeks ahd completed courses that qualified him to teach. Following a brief stint in teaching, he returned to school for seventeen more weeks.

He led out in early efforts to produce song books for a people who would become known as Seventh-day Adventists and kept up with trends in American church music, owning personal copies of the most recent hymnals. In spite of the breadth of his interests and many commitments, White single-handedly edited and published four hymnals and five supplements between 1849 and 1863.

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